Old rustic oak with deep open cracks in the grain - how is it done?

[Not your average framer]

I have some older chunky oak moulding which I would like to persude to develop deep open cracks in the grain, like you see on old weathered external oak doors. Ijust wondering if anyone knows how to create this effect. I'm guessing that it's something caused by waterlogged oak drying out from the outside, while the inside is still wet and swallen. I'm not really sure how long it will taken for the water to soak in enough. I'm wondering if anyone would know abot this!

BTW, I am also thinking abount trying this same effect with Pine as well. I guess that this could be a popular rustic effect, if I can find a way of making it work. I am hoping that this will something which might be relatively quick and easy to accomplish.

My thanks in anticipation,
Mark.

[vintage frames]

The cracks you see on old oak are called shakes and these occur as the wood dries out in an uneven fashion. I agree that they can look very attractive on antique beams and fittings.

However, with most kiln dried oak mouldings, the effect is nearly impossible to reproduce. I've actually tried boiling and rapid cooling of seasoned oak but it always remained stubbornly stable.

You might have more luck with some 'green' oak, but you would have to machine it first before trying any treatments.

[Not your average framer]

I am thinking that these cracks usually occur at 90 degrees to the growth rings and as such not all pieces of wood will necessarily crack exactly in the best place. Any cracks which emerge out of the sides of the moulding would imeddiately become scrap. However my thinking is that Iak, or Pine with natural looking surface cracks could well demand a premium price. I suspect that it would be a potentially very easy to sell iten, even in these currently difficult times.

[Not your average framer]

I'm not sure that this is worth taking forward at the moment. I aready know how to make a nice cross grained rustic effect with a band saw, it's quite quick and easy, plus I'm already planning to make some before I open the shop and I already know that it sells at a worthwhile profit.

[red]

the best way would be to get some green oak and let it season in a warm
place, trouble is it may move too much. i used to turn green wood the dried
bowl sometimes ended up oval! oak moves a lot when drying. when it is dry
it could be machined into a moulding, good luck with it!

[Not your average framer]

I've already largely written the whole idea off. The only way that I would work for me is if it was fairly quich and easy to do, using ready machined mouldings as a starting position, but I think that we've already ruled this out. So thanks for your responses, but I now don't see this idea as going anywhere and I'm moving on to other things.